On listening to audiobooks

[trappedslider]

I've listened to a few different audiobooks when it's better than reading a book and I've realized a few things. Jim Dale is awesome, and some narrators can pull off different voices for different characters and others can't. But that view may be due to how well Dale did in Harry Potter. The most recent audiobook I've finished is Ready Player one narrated by Will Wheaton and he did a good job as well. I tried listening to Catching fire, but Carolyn McCormick isn't very good IMO or it's been a while since I last listened to The Hunger games. I'm currently listening to Ender Game which is an audio play with music and such and differences from the book. It also has a full cast like the World War Z audiobook from Max Brooks. However, Brooks was able to call upon Hollywood A-listers to do the different characters. I also came upon Stephen King's Carried read by Sissy Speck,so I added it to my wish list.

Any other recommendations for audiobooks?

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

WWZ is excellent.
The Final Empire : Mistborn Book 1 - read by Michael Kramer. Kate Reading splits the job with him on the Stormlight Archive books as well - they are both .
The Name of the Wind read by Nick Podehl is really , really well done he slips between accents effortlessly .
Finally, Robin read by Fred Berman . Great book about the life of Robin Williams. It’s a performance!
Oh ya … The Only Plane in the Sky : An Oral History of 9/11

 

[MarkB]

The Bobiverse series by Dennis E Taylor.

Faced with the task of portraying dozens of near-identical characters in first-person narrative, Ray Porter does an excellent job of making them each distinct in both tone and personality.

 

[Dioltach]

Joe Abercrombie's books, besides being great in and of themselves, really come to life with Steven Pacey's reading. (Steven Pacey also starred in the last two series of Blake's 7, I believe, as Tarrant.)

I also really enjoy Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's readings of the Rivers of London books (the ones told from Peter's perspective, anyway). He does Mama Thames, Nightingale and Abigail all with equal ease. (Shvorne Marks also did a good job with What Abigail Did Last Summer.)

One series I was disappointed in was the Wheel of Time. The reviews said that the narrators were among the best US voice actors/narrators, but I found the male reader particularly bad - losing track of sentences halfway through, stressing the wrong words, and generally not distinguishing between different characters' speech.

Overall I struggle with American narrators reading fantasy. American Gods worked OK, and other urban fantasy, but I find it very jarring with medieval fantasy.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

As You Wish, Cary Elwes' Princess Bride memoir, has everyone who's still alive (so no Andre the Giant) popping in to voice their parts. It's a short listen (about two hours), but excellent.

 

[GreyLord]

Not exactly audio books, but similar.

The Star Wars Radio Dramas. Originally one of the Few items approved by George Lucas as OFFICIAL Canon. Have more information than you get in the films, at least for Star Wars.

The Doctor Who Big Finish productions.

If you can find it, the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy audio dramas.

One series I was disappointed in was the Wheel of Time. The reviews said that the narrators were among the best US voice actors/narrators, but I found the male reader particularly bad - losing track of sentences halfway through, stressing the wrong words, and generally not distinguishing between different characters' speech.

Overall I struggle with American narrators reading fantasy. American Gods worked OK, and other urban fantasy, but I find it very jarring with medieval fantasy.

I tried the Wheel of Time audiobooks while reading them. The audiobooks were hard to get through. I'm glad to know it isn't just me.

I thought about trying Brandon Sanderson's other audiobooks titles (like the Way of Kings, etc) but don't want to even think about it if they are read similarly to how the Wheel of Time was read.

 

[DonoZen]

You should check out Graphic Audio. Full cast, sound effects, and music. Their tagline “A movie in your mind” and it's pretty close.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If you can find it, the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy audio dramas.

Remastered versions of them are on Audible, including series four through six. (Skip six: It's got excellent production values, but it's attempting to polish up And Another Thing by Eion Colfer.)

 

[Dioltach]

I have the original H2G2 - on audio cassette. Official ones bought in a shop, but my mum probably still has the cassettes that she taped from the radio back when it was originally broadcast.

On why going into hyperspace is bad:
Ford: "It's unpleasantly like being drunk."
Arthur: "What's so unpleasant about being drunk?"
Ford: "Ask a glass of water."

Later, after going into hyperspace:
Arthur: "I'll never be unkind to a gin and tonic again!"

It's just one long series of belly-laughs. A few years ago I (somewhat ambitiously) started on the Camino de Santiago, from Madrid. Part of the way I listened to H2G2, and I just wandered over the Spanish Meseta sniggering to myself.

 

[Baron Opal II]

What services or companies do you like using? I'm trying to get into audiobooks and podcasts, but I'm having trouble deciding on a supplier and an app for my phone.